So heres the problem. Its been cold here for a few weeks now, lately been getting down into the teens, and even single digits. When I last fueled up (about a week ago) only put a half tank in. I didn't put the dieselkleen additive in (blew it off because it was starting fine lol) I sometimes plug it in, sometimes not it depends where I end up parking when I get home.. Either way plugging it in usually helps but now nothing. Anyways, I went to start it yesterday morning with a little bit less than 1/4 tank and it was plugged in. Started up fine, let it idle for about a minute (late for school haha) Took off, went down the end of my road and around the corner, stepped on it alittle to get up a hill and it kind of lost power and started loping, shut off. I let the GP's warm back up and tried again. It loped for about a minute straight and i tried keeping it at 1000rpms, warm it up a little bit more and it finally started running fine and by the time I got to school it was up to temp and running perfect.

Now, when I left school It was of course cold, started fine and then the exact same thing happened. So I poured about an OZ of the dieselkleen in the tank and got it to idle some how, eventually warmed up and I got home. Started it a few times when I was home and it was normal, fired up no problems. Eventually went out and filled the tank up and put the dieselkleen in.

This morning I went to start it, not plugged in. Cranked and got nothing. Waited for plugs to warm up a few more times. Fired up and idled for a few seconds, then started loping and died. Tried a few times and said F it and took my dads chevy to school. Got home and tried again.. same exact thing happened. It will fire after cranking for a while and run really rough, sometimes idle normal and then eventually die. I pulled the fuel filter out to check if it was gelled inside there (recent filter) and it was not. I tried the trick of putting cables from the positive terminal on the battery to the GPR, and it didn't do anything..

I'm thinking that its either gelled fuel or GPR/GP's.. What else could it be? Its been just plain cold here lately and it's been starting and running absolutely fine until these two incidents.

But if it dies after you start it sounds like you may have gelled fuel as well. You can pull the fuel filter and have someone turn on the ignition key (don't actually try to start it) to see how quickly the fuel pump fills up the bowl.

My truck is doing the same thing. I'm lucky that it's not my daily driver because I haven't been able to bring myself to work on it in this cold...

Definitely do the cold start problem procedure already posted. Also, have your batts load-tested as these motors can do funny things if they are weak; make sure you split the batts and check them individually. If you still have the problem then I think the next possibility is a sticky injector or two that doesn't like the cold.

I'm not sure where you live, but #2 diesel shouldn't start to gell in temps warmer than -10*F.
Best,
Jim

i had it plugged in all night, cranked it this morning and it loped alittle and died. tried again and it ran rough but eventually evened out and warmed up. let it get to temp, drove it to school and it was fine. left it up on a hill at the parking lot in the sun all day (35 out today) and when i got back in it fired up right away but began loping and died. eventually got it going and got home..

than i let it run when home and took it for a spin around the block and noticed that the oil pressure gauge shot down when i put it under load quickly.. which means the HPOP correct.. now i kind of got nervous because thats really not to good of a sign. checked the oil and im really low.. probly 3-4 quarts low. noticed the oil cap was leaking and i last checked the oil about 1k miles ago. so im definitely low.. i know oil makes or breaks an engine and im kicking myself in the nuts for not checking that more frequently (but im used to gas engines... it doesn't smoke or leak so i didn't even think about oil..and it has low pressure because the gauge hasn't moved at all.. im going to do an oil change on it and put maybe the 5w30 or whatever you guys run in the cold with a new filter and all.. im guessing this is my problem.

i feel as if i ruled out the gelled fuel because i let it sit in the sun all day, and it did it.. plus, just because i plugged it in last night doesn't mean that heats the fuel either and it started this morning.

I'd change to a lighter weight oil and get the correct amount in there. Maybe check the hpop resevior before you cold start the truck and see if it's low, could have a drain back issue or even a weak hpop.

Sounds oil/ injector related based on your symptoms. Loping and dieing after its already started doesn't sounds like one of the two of those if a fuel issue is ruled out.

Glow plugs are touchy if they have been abused i.e. batteries without enough juice also they need AMP's around 1750 thats alot of juice for plugs and cranking just plugging in for a couple off hours is enough to help. Also try using power service instead of diesel clean I've used powers service for years in all my big rigs, and ultra low sulpher fuel can't be cut with kerosine anymore.(you can yourself get five gallons of CLEAR kero don't use dyed add it to your tank) good luck

Follow the suggestions above.
Make sure your gpr and glow plugs are working
Your fuel should be alright, if it was gelled it wouldnt have any power or simply wouldnt start.
Make sure your block heater is working, should just tell by touching.
I use 5w-40 Rotella synthetic in the winter and starts like its 70*out.
3-4 qts in 1,000 miles? To me it seems like alot. Hows your blow by with the oil cap off and engine running?

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the PowerStrokeNation : Ford Powerstroke Diesel Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.